Breaking | China selects only two astronauts for new mission so they can extend time to 30 days in space
Shenzhou-11, which is due to blast off during this year’s fourth quarter, will dock with nation’s new Tiangong-2 experimental space station
China has chosen two men as the two astronauts who are due to blast off aboard the spacecraft Shenzhou-11 during this year’s fourth quarter.
The challenging mission, which will last 30 days, will involve the spacecraft docking with the Tiangong-2 experimental space station – due to launched during this year’s third quarter – where the astronauts will be living and working, the Beijing Morning Post reported on Sunday.
However, unlike former space launches, only two – rather than three – astronauts will be aboard Shenzhou-11.
Zhang Bonan, chief designer of manned spacecraft systems at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, was quoted earlier by the People’s Daily as saying that there were limits on the capacity of the space station’s life support system, so the number of astronauts on this mission had been reduced in order to extend the time that the two astronauts could spend in space.